Nunavik MP blasts federal aboriginal affairs minister in Parliament

"Why should aboriginal peoples trust this minister to resolve the national crisis that is striking them?"

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

On June 21, National Aboriginal Day, Nunavik MP Romeo Saganash raised the issue of poor housing in the House of Commons: more than half the homes in aboriginal communities are affected by mold and that the situation is getting worse since the Conservatives took power, said the New Democratic Party MP for Abitibi-James Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou.

“The problems in education and housing are rising under the leadership of this minister,” said Saganash during Question Period.

Saganash said John Duncan, the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, is “completely lost” and “unable to do the right things” to improve the quality of life of people who live in Third World conditions.

“Seeing this incompetence, why should aboriginal peoples trust this minister to resolve the national crisis that is striking them?” asked Saganash.

The riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, one of the largest in Canada, has several First Nations and Inuit communities where people suffer from the minister’s inaction, Saganash noted in a June 21 news release, adding that he plans to visit several of these places this summer.